We All Rise Up
by Literaturefangirl
Summary: Escaping from prison with the help of a hallucination, Johnny reunites with Victoria before she leaves for India.


The mission was out of Johnny's hands. Victoria would see to it, that no citizen of Wellington Wells would ever drink Joy tainted water again. Then why did he still feel the need to bury his face in his hands and sob? Because for all the good his plans would bring to the town, he and his operatives were still stuck in a jail cell.

"How am I ever going to get out of here?" Johnny said to himself. The uncertainty of gaining his freedom and Victoria enacting his mission successfully, weighing on his already frayed mind.

"By listening to me, big man." A gruff, voice called out from his cell. A voice belonging to one of his doll operatives, Jack Carter.

"Jack, you can talk?" Johnny asked, skeptical of the usually lifeless plaything, now speaking before him. Playing make believe with his dolls was one thing. Having them speak back was another.

"I'm a hallucination, Johnny boy. You're only seeing me move, because you're distressed."

"Right..." Johnny accepted the fact, quietly. He hadn't lost it completely. Not yet at least. He was just a bit stressed out. A cup of tea would fix that right up.

As soon as he got out of here.

"Now, you see that bobby over there? _You're _going to grab his attention, so you can nab his keys." Jack plodded towards the cell bars and pointed towards an approaching bobby, doing his rounds.

"But what do I say to him?!" Johnny looked to Jack for guidance, the memory of being caught unaware by bobbies, striking him with a sudden case of stage fright. He wasn't cut out for making a diversion. He was more of a behind the scenes kind of guy.

"How about, 'Hey copper, get me out of this piss hole!'?"

"I'm not going to curse like that!" Johnny protested. He had no such potty mouth. But if Jack really was conjured from his own senses, perhaps he did.

"Suit yourself, but he's coming this way!" Jack held out his arms, gesturing to be picked up like a child.

Hugging Jack's torso to steel himself for a performance his freedom depended on, Johnny weakly cried out to the bobby.

"Hey, bobby! Get me out of here... there's puddles on the floor?"

Irked by the intrusion, the bobby stomped towards Johnny's cell. The keys attached to his belt, jangling with every step.

"If you don't want me to turn _you _into a puddle, than I suggest you pipe down." The bobby warned, eyeing the doll in Johnny's arms with suspicion.

"NOW! Let me at him!" Jack commanded, as Johnny launched him out of a rectangular opening in the cell's door, too small to squeeze through, but large enough to send a doll smacking into a bobby's face, sending him flying.

Head banging against the prison's railing, the bobby was knocked out cold. Giving Johnny free access, to the coveted set of prison keys. His ticket out of here.

Jail cell now unlocked, Johnny turned to the six other dolls sitting in the cell, wondering how he was going to carry them all in one trip.

Sensing what Johnny was thinking, Jack gave him some sensible advise.

"Leave us behind, Johnny. You need to escape this place."

"I can't do that! What am I going to do without any field agents?" Johnny begged for some reassurance from the doll, who had helped him up to this point. How could he expect him to go on without a confidant or two?

"You're already the number one agent. You don't need us. Now, go! Before they raise the alarm." Jack urged the man, whose troubled mind had given him life.

His reason for being was always going to be a temporary gig; Get Johnny out of here.

But the only way that was going to happen, Jack realized was if he was out of the picture.

Without Jack Carter projecting his assertive voice, the doll fell silent. Leaving Johnny alone in his cell once more.

"Jack? Please come back, I don't want to be alone." Johnny mumbled. Whether in a tree house or in a jail cell, Johnny and his doll companions had never been apart for too long. But the time had come for them to go their separate ways.

Hearing a sniffle as he left his cell, Johnny noticed a woman with her head bowed low in a neighbouring cell.

"The children aren't coming back, are they?" She asked Johnny, and wiped the tears off her cheeks with her sleeve.

Johnny had no answer for her, of course. Nobody knew if the little ones would ever return. Another cover up by the evil Dr. Verloc and his lackeys.

As he considered this woman, another victim of Dr. Verloc's vile schemes, fear for Victoria's safety welled up in his stomach.

Blowing up Dr. Verloc's lair was no easy feat. Victoria was bound to face some opposition—Lasers, tasers and doctors. All the while planting explosives, that would bring an end to Dr, Verloc's plans. Had Victoria made it out in time? Johnny hoped so.

Victoria had been quick to accept his mission, despite knowing the dangers. The signs of a keen agent. And Johnny had a feeling that the woman beside him, had what it takes as well.

"There's a lot of people locked up in here, you know. Someone needs to make sure, they all get out of here in one piece." Johnny closed the woman's fingers, on top of the keys he'd just given her and took off.

"What? Why are you leaving this up to me?" She protested, stunned by her rescuer's sudden delegation of freeing everybody.

"Because I have to find out if Shere Khan made it out of the burning jungle!"

—

Outside the prison walls, the city of Wellington Wells was unrecognizable. What was once a cheery place, where townsfolk greeted each other like old friends, had descended to a burning, pillaged wreck.

Discarded masks littered the streets, like skulls in a crypt. Fitting right at home with the sprawled corpses of Wellies, amongst the piles of rubble and looted televisions.

The gentle deers of the cobblestone jungle, had turned to tigers. Leaving only skeletons behind.

Turning a corner, Johnny saw a man patting a woman's back to console her, while she cried over her brother's death.

Another tragic scene. One that Johnny had, had enough of seeing. Feeling disheartened by this, Johnny nearly missed the sight of Victoria, walking in the opposite direction of the two grieving Wellies.

Pleased to have found Victoria, Johnny rejoiced over her safe return.

"Miss Byng, you made it out!"

While reassuring as it was that _someone _was happy to see her. The people had spoken. She was not welcome here and there would be no celebrating.

"I'm going home, Johnny... to India." She informed him. No one would be keeping her in their thoughts out of worry, or hate ever again.

"But you just saved the city." Johnny lamented. He'd only just found the elusive woman. To have her leave now, felt like such a hollow victory.

"I've played my part, Johnny. I'm not wanted here anymore." She told him and held up her hand before he could interrupt.

"But my fight isn't over. Joy continues to have a grip on the other islands. And someone needs to end it." Victoria looked earnestly at Johnny and smiled.

"Me?" Johnny pointed a finger at his chest, surprised by Victoria's faith in him. It had not been long ago, since Johnny had planted explosives in her home. And here she was asking for an encore, on an island wide level.

"Be their hero, Johnny. I'm counting on you." Victoria implored him and walked away into the distance.

"I won't let you down."


End file.
